The present invention relates to network communications in general and, more specifically, to devices that manage traffic on data networks.
New telecom standards and widespread use of high-density computing platforms have produced demand for network devices that can process traffic from an increasing number of sources at increasingly higher data rates.
The throughput of a network device may be expressed in terms of the number and type of its ports and is usually related to several factors. Among the various factors, the throughput of a network device may be closely related to its core operating frequency.
Practical considerations limit the ability to increase throughput by raising the core operating frequency. For example, high-speed chips may be expensive to manufacture and may require high-bandwidth memory, substantially increasing to the cost of the network device.
One approach to increasing the throughput of a network device while maintaining lower core operating frequencies is to distribute processing tasks among multiple processing units. However, this approach presents many challenges, particularly with respect to ingress policing and other rate limit processing operations. The present invention addresses these challenges.